Houston, Sporting KC Meet Again In MLS Playoffs

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP)— Sporting Kansas City has been in this situation before.

The MLS club seems to roll through the regular season, earns a solid seed for the playoffs and then runs into Houston. The Dynamo has knocked Sporting KC out of the playoffs each of the past two seasons, both times on its own field.

Sporting KC will try to end that streak of futility on Saturday night when they play the back end of their two-leg Eastern Conference semifinal at Sporting Park. The teams played to a scoreless draw two weeks ago in Houston, meaning the winner advances to the MLS Cup.

Real Salt Lake has a 4-2 lead over Portland in the Western Conference semifinals.